A panel of physician "explorers" who have been testing the capabilities of Google Glass in practice gave meeting attendees a glimpse at how the device has already been used in the care of patients as well as a taste of what might be possible in various medical specialties.

One of the main ways the technology has already been used is in telementoring by streaming interactions with patients to medical students or colleagues in remote locations.

Christian Assad, MD, an interventional cardiology fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, described one case -- published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology -- involving a patient who underwent closure of a patent foramen ovale. The physicians performing the procedure transmitted information to a structural heart specialist at another center. That specialist identified a thrombus at the tip of the delivery sheath and then described how to clean the device and re-deploy it.

Although the idea of a remote consultation is not new, he said, the use of Google Glass -- or other wearable technology that might be forthcoming -- streamlines the process and removes some of the bulky equipment.

How Else Can This Be Used?

Homero Rivas, MD, MBA, a digestive surgeon at Stanford University, discussed a range of other potential uses of the device in medical care.

In emergency medicine, for example, paramedics wearing Google Glass can stream the discussions with the patient in the ambulance so the admitting physician will already have some idea of the problem when the patient arrives at the hospital.

Another use would be in allowing a physician to access information from a patient's medical record -- for example, on allergies, medications, and vital signs -- without having to turn to a chart or computer console.

Other potential applications Rivas pointed out:

Running down a safety checklist before performing a procedure

Aiding in diagnosis -- for example, by reading the color of a test strip to determine the result

Evaluating eyesight

Supporting blind individuals by having the device see text and read it out loud

Providing support to patients with Alzheimer's disease by providing reminders about situations in their lives

If the device is eventually driven by an artificial intelligence engine, he said, it might be able to help a physician assess the patient in ways that he or she might have missed otherwise.

"With no question in my mind and in the minds of all the explorers we have in this group, wearable technologies are transformational already and that will expand in a vast variety of industries," he said.

Why Doesn't Every Doctor Already Have One?

Despite the promise, there are many issues that need to be addressed before Google Glass adorns the face of every healthcare professional, Rivas said, pointing to privacy and the need to make sure that HIPAA protections are not being compromised, cost, the discrepancy between what the device can do and what people expect it to do, and the lack of medical-grade image resolution.

Assad also raised concerns about getting a good signal for streaming video within the leaded walls of a cath lab, WiFi security, the battery life of the device (which he called "horrible"), and suboptimal conduction of audio, which right now requires an ear bud.

Heather Evans, MD, a surgeon at the University of Washington in Seattle who described herself as an "enthusiastic supporter" of Google Glass, spent her part of the session focusing on the barriers to implementation on a wider scale.

"There's a lot we need to discuss before it's ready for prime time," she said. "We have been running up against problems from before we even got the device."

She highlighted three broad concerns: safety, information security, and privacy/etiquette.

In terms of safety, she said, the device is inherently a distraction because the focus often goes to the technology itself and not the problem in front of a physician.

Also, she said, there is a loss of situational awareness, in that a physician's attention is drawn away from the interactions with people around them when they are accessing information.

And finally, there are concerns about alert fatigue and the accessing of inappropriate information on the device.

When looking at the security of the information gathered by the device, Evans said about the "IT guy" at a hospital: "This is his nightmare."

Google Glass is an insecure device, she said, pointing out that it currently does not require a password to be used.

In addition, data are not encrypted but are sent to the Cloud during an auto-backup process that cannot be controlled. That, Evans said, is a major hurdle that needs to be overcome because encrypted data transmission will be essential.

Pointing to what she called the elephant in the room, Evans also tackled etiquette surrounding use of the device. There are still open questions surrounding expectations of privacy, how interactions with a patient will be affected by use of Google Glass, and how healthcare encounters should be handled when patients start coming in wearing the device.

She pointed to all of the issues she discussed when saying that Google Glass is not yet ready for prime time.

But she and all of the panelists saw a future for wearable technology like Google Glass.

Assad said, "We have entered an interconnected era where telemedicine, telehealth, and telementoring will play a crucial role in patient care, without a doubt."

MedPageToday is a trusted and reliable source for clinical and policy coverage that directly affects the lives and practices of health care professionals.

Physicians and other healthcare professionals may also receive Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Education (CE) credits at no cost for participating in MedPage Today-hosted educational activities.